Three days after the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions as President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general was predicted by Newsmax, Trump made the appointment official on Friday.

The fourth U.S. senator since World War II to be appointed attorney general, Sessions, 69, is expected to have smooth sailing in confirmation hearings.

Because of his background as a former state attorney general and U.S. attorney, the nomination seemed a natural for Trump.

Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump for president and was a close adviser to the him throughout the 2016 campaign on issues ranging from illegal immigration to Supreme Court appointees. The senator reportedly was behind Trump’s mentioning in a televised debate that he would consider for the Supreme Court vacancy U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Bill Pryor, himself a former state attorney general.

Because of his closeness to Trump, Sessions is likely to take a strong advisory role with the new president on many issues much as Attorney General Robert Kennedy did during his brother John’s presidency and Attorney General Herb Brownell did with Dwight Eisenhower (whose 1952 campaign he had managed).